In Pink
by gingersunlights
Summary: In which Ginny Weasley finds escape on the underground scene.
1. She's a Blonde

"Honestly, I'm fine, babes, I'm just tired from last night." Said Ginny Weasley, staring at herself in the green-room mirror.

"Alright, but I'm over here with a doubleshot espresso if you need me." Said Alice with a smile and a poke to Ginny's ribs. Alice played bass in the band, and sometimes, when Ginny was being honest with herself, she thought that she liked Alice best of all the people she'd met in the muggle world.

Ginny sometimes looked at herself for a while in the mirrors backstage before she went onstage, and tonight was the same as ever. She saw long, straight red hair, tired eyes, and more freckles than she could count. Pushing her hair back from her face, Ginny sighed and went to work.

OoOoO

"Hey, Hermione, are you sure this is the right place?" Said Harry, looking up skeptically at the marquee. It was just like the sort of place nobody would expect miss priss Hermione Granger to like, which, of course, was just how she liked it. Nobody would ever find her there.

"Yeah, Harry," she said with a smirk, "I'm sure."

Hermione had been to the Alligator before, but Harry never had, and she knew there wouldn't be time later. She knew what was coming, and she also knew that it wouldn't be safe. 'For now,' she would think, 'we'll keep this for now.'

OoOoO

Inside was a raucous mess, like always. That was sort of why Ginny liked the place. She and the band played other clubs around the city, but this was her favorite. It was low key, simple. Ginny liked them grunge and dirty; it made her feel at home.

"Hey, dollface."

That was what Alex had always called her, from the day they met in his friends' old garage. He'd said that she had looked like she wasn't real, like she was from somewhere else. Dollface.

Turning around to sling her arms around his neck, Ginny said "Hey, babes. I thought you were with Jet in the wings."

"Nah. You know how he gets before a show. Antsy ain't my shit, man."

Laughing, Ginny said "Yeah, he'll crawl out of his skin before he lets you in peace."

Pause.

"You look tired, babes."

Ginny looked away and dislodged an arm to run her hand haphazardly through her hair.

"Yeah, I guess I do. Not enough sleep, you know."

"Are you ever gonna tell us?"

Ginny paused a moment, thinking of what it would be like if she did. It would feel good. It would be like being free, like she didn't have to carry it anymore. If Alex knew, he would understand.

But, it wasn't like she'd never thought of it before, and she had- she thought about it often. And she knew she couldn't. The statute of secrecy was fucking her up.

"One day, when it's over." She said, looking at him straight on. And he knew he had to believe her.

"Right. Lets get on with the fuckin' show, yeah dollface?" He said, finding again his boyish charm.

Punching him in the arm, which was somewhat difficult given her position, Ginny said "Fuck yeah." With a grin, and leaned forward to kiss him quickly on the corner of his mouth before running off to find Alice.

OoOoO

"This place isn't very much like the last one you took me to." Said Harry over the din inside the club.

"Of course not." Said Hermione reasonably. "I couldn't very well just dump you in the deep end, could I?"

Then, the lights dimmed in the club, the volume rose, and a girl walked out on stage.

The lights then went up as far as any self-respecting club in London would ever allow, and the girl said, "Hey how's everybody doing tonight?"

The crowd got louder, yelling, and tossing cheers up and over the many, many heads.

"Hey!" Yelled the girl, louder than before, and said, "I said hows everybody fuckin' doing tonight?"

The crowd wend mad for her, and Harry and Hermione found themselves being jostled left and right, everyone getting closer to the stage to see the band, who had walked on stage during the applause.

Harry looked over at Hermione being jostled like hell through the crowd, and saw her grinning.

Then, the girl laughed, and Harry thought for a second that she looked sort of familiar, but dismissed it, thinking it would be ridiculous that he'd know anyone from muggle London.

Then, the girl said something and Harry made himself pay attention.

"Hey hey everybody we're Brighton Rock and we're about to fuck you up. Hit it, Jet."

The room exploded with sound and Harry heard her first words right out over the crowd-

 _"I'm gonna fight 'em off_

 _A seven nation army couldn't hold me back_

 _they're gonna rip it off_

 _takin' their time right behind my back."_

Hermione was completely enthused and taken with the girl's performance, and began to drag Harry closer to the stage to jump with the rest of the crowd, and soon enough, they were standing just a couple of people away from the stage.

Harry looked up again to watch the girl gyrating and pumping her foot to the beat when she looked up and over the crowd.

"What the fuck." Said Harry, recognizing her, and not quite believing his eyes.

Hermione hadn't heard, and kept dancing to the music, but stopped when she noticed that Harry had gone still.

"What is it Harry?" She got in close so he could hear her.

"It's Ginny." He said, into her ear.

Comprehension dawned slowly on Hermione, who had perhaps had one too many shots of tequila before the show, and she looked up to the stage again.

"Holy fuck!"

"Yeah, holy fuck!"

 _"And the message coming from my eyes says leave me alone."_

And then, looking back up at the stage, Hermione just laughed, and laughed, and began to dance again. And so did Harry.

OoOoO

Ginny loved the stage. She loved it so much that she jittered every night before she walked out onstage, and she was still buzzing when she got to the microphone and asked the crowd how they were feeling.

She loved that part, truly, but what she lived for, well, it was for the rush of calm. The first note Alice played, and the wash of silence just before she sang the first note. It was her escape, and fuck knew she needed one.

OoOoO

"Alright ladies and gents, we're gonna end it in the eighties tonight with a song I think you're all gonna like.

The lights dimmed, and Ginny felt bright, alive, and shiny. She was free, free from everything that wanted to get her, and free from the horrors of reality. Right then, all she had to be was spectacular.

She looked up and across the crowd, opened her eyes, and sang.

 _"Color me your color baby,_

 _color me your car."_

The noise in the crowd rocketed upward, and Ginny looked sideways at Alex, who was pounding out power chords and smirking at her.

 _"Color me your color, darling,_

 _I know who you are."_

Alice walked up to play beside her for the next couple lines, and then they both leaned into Ginny's mic and sang.

 _"Call me! On the line,_

 _Call me, any any time."_

-She looked back out to the crowd, and then-

 _"Call me."_


	2. She's Got Legs

"Hey, baby, need something to come you down?" Said Alex, passing a mug of tea over to Ginny.

"You always talk like you're trying to get up my skirt." In all fairness, he was, but Ginny knew he wouldn't have to try very hard. It always worked.

Alex just smirked.

The two of them were sat in the makeshift lounge on their bus- the one they kept for touring in the summer- and Ginny had traded her ripped cutoffs and smudgy eyeliner for an oversized T-shirt she'd stolen from Harry earlier in the year.

She looked at Alex with bloodshot eyes and grudgingly took the tea, cradling it against her chest. She let the warmth seep through the cotton of the t-shirt and into her skin.

"Alice's gone out. With Jet. Think they're fucking again?"

"I don't know, dollface, maybe they're just doing tequila shots off coeds stomachs on the avenue. Could be something completely innocent."

"Yeah."

When she didn't rise to his bait, Alex shifted over to ingratiate himself into her nest of pillows on the floor.

"Are you empty again, do you think?"

Ginny only looked at him with her tired, tired eyes, before she said "I'm better than I was. But you know how things are. With me. With my family. I don't suppose I can ever tell them what I'm actually doing. You won't understand this," she said, putting one, small hand over one of his big ones, "But it would be shameful- this kind of escape. Traitorous, given our reality."

"You can tell me, you know."

"Alex, you know I ca-"

"No-" He interrupted her, "I mean you can tell me without really telling me. Can't you? Just tell me the important things, and I won't ask questions. Scout's honor." He said, mock saluting her.

Ginny thought on it for a moment, and then a minute, and then another, shifting herself so she could lean back into his chest and drink her tea. Then, she decided.

Staring at the wall, she began with "Did you ever learn what happens to the soldiers during times of war?" And then, before he could answer, she continued "Because there's something they don't tell you about it before you throw in with the revolutionaries- no one survives."

"They send you home with an honorable discharge, isn't that what they call it? Yeah, they send you home looking like you're still alive, rosy cheeks and all, but everyone who ships out dies in the field. It's in their eyes, Alex. It's that look in their eyes when you-" she stopped herself.

"I ran away. Me and the kids, we're all running, have been our whole lives. Theres not a one of us who isn't scared shitless, and that's not the worst of it. The part that really fucks me up, Alex, you know really fucks me up," she said, moving to turn around so she could face him again, "is the part where I throw in anyway." She said it with fire in her eyes, blazing hot one moment, blown out the next.

Getting up then, Ginny looked more tired than Alex had ever seen her, except for maybe that one night in Paris. They had left, them and the band, had only wanted to get away, play a show, get out of dodge, but then Ginny had looked up at the lights. The lights of Paris, glowing blue and gold like a promise.

There had been longing in her eyes when she left, like she knew she wouldn't ever be coming back.

"I'm fucking tired, Alex. And it's not over yet. We're only just beginning, and it's going to get so, so much worse from here. I know what's coming. I can feel it in my-" she paused. "In my bones."

Ginny sat down at the little counter in the kitchenette, and stirred her tea. Waiting for something, she sat, and she stirred, staring down into her mug.

"Alice says that she sometimes feels you leave electric shocks on her favorite things." Ginny's head snapped up, and she narrowed her eyes. Her wand was at the Burrow. She was good enough wandless that she could protect herself if it came to that, and she was certain that it would. They couldn't know, they couldn't possibly-

"I'm not saying anything, Gin." She didn't relax.

Holding his hands up, Alex said, "your secrets are yours to keep. But you have to know that you're safe here."

"There are laws, Alex, I cant- You don't understand." Ginny looked a bit lost then, grasping for something that was not there.

"I know, babes, and you don't have to tell me."

"Okay. I- okay."

OoOoO

 _-Later that evening-_

"Hey, Alice, listen that's cheating!"

"Ha! You fucking _lose_ , pretty boy!" Said Alice, blonde curls bouncing.

"Ginny, tell her that is so unfair. Babe." Pleaded Alex, taking Ginny's hand and kissing it, his mouth still full of swedish fish. "Please babes. I can't lose to this harlot, queen of lies!"

"Oi!" Said Jet.

"Sorry, mate."

"Yeah, yeah."

Ginny shook her head, and Alice only looked smug. Winning the hand left her with all the fishes left in the bag, and she looked positively like the cat who had gotten the canary.

"Come on you, outside."

"Yeah, yeah, alright missy." Alex acquiesced.

Ginny opened the door on the side of the bus, and let them out into the night air. It was warm still, though the show had been out a couple of hours, and it was only just past one in the morning.

The two of them sat down on the steps there in silence for a few minutes before Ginny said "Have a walk down the pubs?"

"Nah. Tired." Said Alex, rubbing his eyes.

"What do you need?"

"A drink. But not, you know, where there's people. Maybe, I mean- I don't know." He unlaced their hands then so he could rest his left one on her hip and tug her a bit closer.

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked, as he drew her in for a short kiss.

"Yeah, if you feel like it. I know it's been a while."

Alex kissed her again, only this time, it was soft and slow, and Ginny let his tongue drift into her mouth. She sighed, letting it consume her, just a little bit. It was easy like this, between them. The were un-messy and easy, like running water.

"Hang on, there mate." She said, stopping him up a second.

He looked at her questioningly, hand paused on the warm skin of her tummy.

"Let me grab a skirt or something, lets go get a drink. Just one."

"Yeah, okay, but when we get back I am definitely not letting Alice have a go at you first. I remember last time; you're a damn floosy when you're drunk." He said with a small smile.

She held her pinky out to him- "Promise." She said.

He wrapped his pinky around hers. "Deal."

OoOoO

They were walking down the avenue, Ginny in her cutoffs again, but still in the T-shirt she'd meant to wear to bed when Alex stopped in front of one of their favorites and said, "yeah?"

"'Kay." Said Ginny, and they turned in, all the while Alex trying to chase a kiss.

"Oh you leave me alone, you ridiculous boy." She said, grinning a bit while she tried to find a spot at the bar.

"Hey Gin!" Came shouts from various corners of the bar. They knew her here, and every day she thanked the powers that be that they only recognized her because she was the singer in a band. She bloody loved muggle London.

She smiled and waved, and they took their seats at the bar, which had been miraculously cleared, while the place quietened down again to the dull roar it usually kept.

"Hey, did you forget to wear a bra again?" Asked Alex, over the din, and only slightly amused. It did happen often enough.

"Oh hey, yeah," said Ginny, looking down. "Fuck me."

"Yeah, I'm gonna," he said, pulling her in to kiss her on the nose.

"Hey, Gin."

Still laughing at Alex's antics, she turned her head to see who it was, and then stopped still.

Alex, who'd noticed, turned to see who'd come in.

"Oh. Harry. Hello, I- ah what are you doing around here? In muggle London?" Asked Ginny, turning out of Alex's embrace.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Harry said, "Oh, you know, out with Hermione. She's absolutely ruthless, I never get any sleep, really." He pinked a bit at the implications in that last, but to his credit, maintained composure.

"Oh, of course. Ah, this is Alex, Harry, he's from Brighton. You know, the beach side." She said, in a bid to let him know Alex was a muggle.

"Yeah, hey, mate nice to meet you." Said Alex, shaking Harry's hand.

"Yeah, likewise." Said Harry. "So, ah we, well we came to your show tonight, actually."

"Oh!" Said Ginny. "Well then, I suppose that was strange. I never did tell you what I had been doing all summer. Surprise." She said, and mocked jazz hands in that dry, sardonic way she knew would never fail to make Harry laugh, and laugh he did.

"Yeah, babe, we were all so worried." He said, laughing still. "Nah, really, Hermione was just tickled pink to discover what you've been doing. She says you have all of Debbie Harry's sex appeal and a voice all your own."

"Just like Hermione to say something like that, the minx." Said Ginny, turning to face Harry properly. "Where is she, anyway?"

"Ah, that'd be the loo, she's had a few too many shots of tequila, and you know how they go straight through her, that mug- ah- strong sort." He amended quickly.

"I'm gonna go get her then, and Alex, will you hang out here with Harry for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure thing, Gin." He said, still looking somewhat amused.

"So, hey you're the guitarist, right?" Asked Harry.

"Yeah, babe, you like our show?"

Harry had spent enough time in the mad parts of town with Hermione at that point to roll with the punches, and the first time he'd kissed boys at a bar, Hermione had literally, actually done a little leap for joy. He certainly was no stranger, not the way he had been.

"Yeah, I never knew Gin could fuck me up with one line of lyric. She's new and surprising every day, that woman." Said Harry, taking a sip of his drink. Vodka, straight. He didn't like to mess around.

"Yeah, life's never boring with her, is it?"

"Nah. Couldn't be. Like the sun, she is."

OoOoO

"Babes!"

"Gin!" Shrieked Hermione, making a beeline for Ginny's face. "Why didn't you tell us? You're so hot, for starters, and I am totally coming to every show you play before we're back in school next year."

"Oh, you know, blood oath, all that bullshit." Said Ginny, still grinning and holding onto Hermione. It was mostly so she wouldn't fall over at that point, if she was being honest.

Hermione leveled her with a serious look. "Your Jack White is smokin' hot." She paused to poke her on the nose, "Smokin'. Hot."

"Hey, are you and Harry in town for the night?"

"Yeah, we're at the hotel down the corner, why?"

"Come back and stay with us. The band would love to meet you. And Alice would probably love to fuck you, but you don't have to entertain her."

"Yes! Oh let me tell Harry, do you know where he went?" Said Hermione, looking 'round.

"Yeah, he's probably getting hit on by my guitarist, if we're being honest."

Hermione giggled, and took off ahead of Ginny to go scout out the lost boys.

OoOoO

"Hey."

"Hey dollface. You found your friend."

"Hey Harry, I found you!" Squeaked Hermione.

"Yeah, love, you found me, shall we get you a seat, then? Yeah, lets not fall over, this floor probably isn't the cleanest." Said Harry, holding onto Hermione by her elbow.

"Harry." Said Ginny, "Come stay on the bus for the night. Alice and Jet are probably fucking in their room by now, but you could meet them in the morning.

"I-" He said, looking at Hermione, "'Mione?"

"She says Alice is cute." Said Hermione, still holding Ginny's hand.

"Yeah, sure, what the hell, lets get lush here back to your bus, I'm sure she'll love it."

Hermione gave a weak cheer.


	3. Who This Spoil of Beauty Can Forbid

"Hey, isn't that my shirt?" Asked Harry, pointing to Ginny's chest. They'd all sat down in the lounge again after putting Hermione in Ginny's bed, and Alex was making tea. Again.

"Oh, yeah," Said Ginny, "I suppose it is. And you're never getting it back." She said with a grin and a poke to Harry's ribs.

"Hey!" Laughed Harry. "It is not nice to steal other people's favorite shirts!"

"You left it in my room!" Said Ginny, pointing an accusing finger at Harry. "And never asked for it back! Therefore, it is mine, I procured it fair and square." She said, crossing her arms over her chest, and over the shirt in question.

"Rude." Said Harry.

Ginny may or may not have stuck her tongue out at him then, but needless to say, she placed no stock in the business of being ladylike, and made her decisions accordingly.

"Uh, I guess you haven't seen Ron lately, have you?" Said Harry, calming down.

"Ron? No, why?" Said Ginny, settling back into her pillow-nest and accepting another mug from Alex.

"Isn't that your brother's name?" Asked Alex.

Ginny nodded, and Harry looked uncomfortable.

"What, Harry?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this, but he's dating Luna Lovegood."

"Really." Ginny deadpanned.

"Lovegood?" Asked Alex.

Ginny ignored him.

"Listen, he's not out to hurt her or anything, I'm sure of it, really. They make an odd couple, the two of them, and a completely monogamous one. Pinky swear." Harry offered.

Looking slightly mollified, Ginny squinted her eyes at Harry a moment, and then asked, "Do you think they'll last very long? They've not actually been friends in the past."

"Yeah, actually." Said Harry. "It kind of feels like Ron's seen the light, or something. I've never seen him more- ah- hopeful, you could say."

"Hope is dangerous." Said Ginny, heedless of Alex's presence.

"Yeah, Gin, he knows that, but I reckon that he figured he'd rather have a little time with her than no time at all."

Harry looked at Alex, and then at Ginny, and looking like he'd run out of energy altogether, said, "I had better get to sleep, Hermione has got all sorts planned for tomorrow. I don't know what sort of plans call for the sheer amount of flaming cheetos she's been stockpiling, but I know I'll want to be rested for it." He then extracted himself from the pillow fort, and set his mug down on the counter. And with a kiss on the top of her head, he said "Night, Gin." And walked back to Ginny's room where Hermione already slept.

"You've known him a long time." Said Alex. It wasn't a question.

"Years." Said Ginny, and with that, she curled up and went to sleep.

OoOoO

"I am never drinking again."

"Bullshit."

Hermione only groaned and lay her head on the cool linoleum of the counter.

"Harry, if I so much as look at a drink tonight, I want you to slap me."

"No can do, sorry, honey. Have to let you make your own shitty decisions."

There was more groaning after that, but Harry decided that he only felt sort of responsible.

"Well hello, then gorgeous. What's doin'?" Said a female voice from behind Harry's head.

Turning around, Harry saw a smallish, blonde girl who probably reached about five feet, eight inches tall despite her teeny waist.

"Ah- hello?" Said Harry.

"Super articulate, Ginny, dear. I can see why you like him." Called Alice over her shoulder.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Ginny poked her head out, toothbrush still in her mouth.

"Ae don' lie im." She said.

"No, of course you don't." Said Hermione. "He's a damn coward!" Hermione then hoisted herself up onto the counter so she could shove Harry in the ribs as best she could.

"Ow!" Came the inevitable response. "Vicious, woman!"

Hermione sat back onto folded legs and looked still disgruntled, if just a tad smug.

"Serves you right." She mumbled.

"So." Said Alice. "What's up today?"

Emerging from the bathroom whilst pulling on a t-shirt simultaneously, Ginny said "we're going to Mione's house." To the room at large.

At that, Harry balked, Alice made an interested noise, and Hermione said "What?"

Looking her dead in the eye, Ginny made a sort of silent plea. She wanted to bridge a gap, so to speak. The only problem was that the gap existed between two worlds and may they never meet, and all that.

Stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jeans (Alex's), Ginny kept on looking at Hermione and said "It's neutral ground."

Understanding, Hermione said "Oh. Of course. My house is international waters, right. Everyone can go there."

"Why wouldn't we be able to?" Asked lice, not totally unaware of the goings-on.

"Things with my family are complicated." Ginny only half-lied. "And Hermione's parents are more of the accepting sort."

"Oh, sure." Said Alice, relenting.

"Well," said Harry, "Shall we find some breakfast and head out?"

"No," said Hermione, "Mum and Dad will feed us. We're a band of rag-tag freedom fighters and their friends," she said, gesturing sloppily at the room at large, "They'd love nothing more.

"Pancakes for everyone!" She said, throwing her arms wide, and then flopping back down onto the table again.

"Sorted, then." Said Ginny, rummaging around in her pillow fort for her bag, an old, worn, and well lived in leather thing.

OoOoO

Ginny stood with Hermione in front of her parents' house, looking sideways at her. She reached out to hold her hand, and said "What, 'Mione? Don't you want to go inside?"

Staring forward, and limply holding Ginny's hand in her own, Hermione said "Something's not right."

"No," said Harry from behind her, "Something is off." Turning to Ginny, he said "It's in the air, Gin, can you feel it?"

Ginny turned back toward the house to study it. It was a tudor style sort of thing, with white paneling in the front, and steepled little roofs through the top. There was stonework through the bottom half, and was very pretty, by all accounts. Green foliage grew well-tended beneath the windows, and along the side of the house, but Ginny thought that it maybe didn't look just as it had the summer before, when she had come to visit.

The air had taken on a grey-ish sort of tinge, and Ginny could feel dark magic in the air. Not much, but enough to know that someone had been there. The air had gone cold.

"'Mione, we need to send an owl." Said Ginny, tugging on Hermione's hand." We need to get the hell out of here and send an owl. Right. Now."

When Hermione didn't move, but stood frozen on the ground, Ginny looked imploringly at Harry, and then over at Alice, Jet, and Alex. The three muggles were spooked, and Alex was looking at Ginny like he was seeing her for the first time.

"What do you mean you can feel it in the air?" Asked Alex.

"You know how, Alex." Was all she said.

"Harry, you stay here with Hermione, and I'm going to send a Patronus to Dad, and one to Dumbledore." Moving to steady a grip on Harry's shoulders, Ginny said "Whatever you do, Harry, do not let her go inside."

"Are you going to apparate to the Burrow?"

"I don't see any other options. Hogwarts is nigh completely unpopulated in the summertime, and there's no guarantee Dumbledore will be there when I arrive, and you know that I can't apparate directly into the castle. This is quicker."

"I'm coming with you." Said Alex.

Ginny looked at him, and then to Harry.

"D'you reckon he can? I mean, without a- I mean, I don't know if it's safe."

"He can." Said Hermione, breaking from her reverie. She turned to face away from the house, and began to wipe away the tears that had been silently falling. She reached out to Harry, and he took her hand.

"Section six, subsection three of the statute of secrecy states that a muggle can be side-along apparated in the event of a life threatening emergency. Hell, right now, it might even be legal."

"Excellent," said Harry. "Quasi-legal is the best we ever get these days, it'll have to do."

"Okay, Alex and I are going to the burrow, and you need to get to Hogwarts." Ginny paused to look at her muggle friends. She hadn't wanted to tell them like this. She had wanted to keep her safe haven, and if at all possible, avoid breaking the statute of secrecy. Again.

"Alice?"

"Yeah, babes?"

"I need you to do something for me."


	4. The Changing of the Tide

Ginny arrived outside the Burrow to whipping wind and rain, with Alex close beside her. The Burrow stretched up and up and up before her, towering and turned grey by the clouds that hovered high above it. It creaked, but did not sway. When Molly Weasley had cast her magic upon it, she hadn't messed around.

"Alex," she said, turning around. She realized that she was still holding his hand. "I'm going to do something and it's going to freak you out, but I'm going to need you not to lose your shit, okay?"

Still being unsure of the goings on, Alex only nodded, albeit warily.

Ginny kept her eyes on him when she summoned her wand from the house, and gauged only a slight widening of his eyes when she caught it deftly in hand.

"I need to cast a spell on you so you can go in the house, okay?" She'd had to raise her voice because of the wind, and was yelling just a bit.

"Holy shit."

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before- we ah- need to do this now, though. I'll try to sort things out later, okay?"

"Holy shit." Said Alex again. "Okay, yeah, do it." He seemed to brace himself after that, and he squared his shoulders and closed his eyes, ready for impact. Then, he changed his mind, and opened them.

Ginny raised her wand and cast a variant of 'Alohomora' over him, the one her parents had begun to use when new wards had been raised for extra protection after the end of her third year; the year Voldemort had returned. In a sense, she 'unlocked' a space for him in the wards so he could come inside.

"Okay, let's go." Said Ginny, taking off toward the house.

Once they reached the door, Ginny muttered a spell at it, threw it open, expecting that her father would have gotten her patronus, and burst into action. She raced past her brothers sat on the kitchen counter, and straight upstairs before her mother could properly yell at her. She was going straight for what she thought of as her go-bag. It was fortunate, really, that she'd packed some of Harry's clothes and things in it just in case. They would probably fit Alex.

It wasn't that she planned on having to make a run for it, but Ginny Weasley was nothing if not prepared.

Alex stood in the doorway to Ginny's room, taking in the alarmingly witchy quality of it, and said "You know, it isn't so much different from your bunk on the bus."

"Yeah, save for the toadstools and moving pictures, I think it bears a striking resemblance." She said with a snort. She was only half-joking about the toadstools, but she figured Alex knew that.

"Okay. Downstairs." Said Ginny, showing Alex in the right direction.

"Ginny!" Came her mother's voice from downstairs. "What's happened? I heard your patronus, but I don't understand!"

Ginny, still rushing down the stairs, and coming down into the lounge said, "The Granger house has been attacked."

"Was it death eaters?" Asked Mr. Weasley.

"I'm almost sure of it, there was a kind of green hanging in the air, like the mark had been left there hours ago. I don't think we got there right after it happened." Said Ginny, setting her bag down on the coffee table.

We hadn't even meant to go there today." She continued, looking at Fred and George now. Ron was nowhere to be seen.

Where's Ron?" She asked.

"Oh, he's over at Luna Lovegood's today. We sent your patronus on toward him, he and Luna should be here any moment." Said Mrs. Weasley, wringing her hands.

"Right. Well, like I said, we hadn't even meant to go there today, but Alex and I- ah, this is Alex, by the way- we ran into Harry and Hermione afte- I mean in London, and they stayed over with us. We were stopping to have breakfast, and by the time we got within about twenty feet of the house, the air had gone cold, mum, like there'd been Dementors there."

"We need to contact Dumbledore. Immediately." Said Mr. Weasley.

"I've sent Harry and Hermione on to Hogwarts, and I've got a friend of mine notifying Arabella Figg. She's probably on a bus to Privet drive as we speak."

"Yes, of course, she'll know the quickest way to get to Dumbledore. Good idea, Ginny." Said Mr. Weasley.

"So what do we do?" Asked Fred, speaking for the first time.

There was only silence for a moment, and then George said, "We've got to get wards up. More of them; we can't be safe like this- the Grangers' house had the same protections ours has."

"No." Said Mrs. Weasley. "We have to get to Hogwarts, now, before it's too late. We don't know how much time has passed since the attack, and we don't know how exposed we'll be if we get into the apparition zone outside our wards." Mrs. Weasley turned to look at her daughter. "Ginny, how did you come through?"

"I zigzagged through Diagon alley. I thought about going through Luna's or Godric's hollow, but both of those places could already be being watched. I went through the leaky cauldron, it should still be safe."

"Okay, everyone to the floo, let's not risk going outside. They're not going to target the leaky this early, they don't have the manpower. Let's floor there and then apparate outside the Hogwarts gates."

"You think Hogwarts is safe?" Asked Fred.

"Of course it's safe. Hogwarts is the safest place we could go right now." Said Mr. Weasley.

Just then, Ron and Luna stumbled out of the fireplace and into the lounge, dragging little puffs of soot with them as they went.

"Ginny, how lovely to see you." Said Luna, who was dusting soot off her sweater.

"What's happened?" Asked Ron, who was holding Luna's hand. He appeared to be doing it mostly for support.

"The Grangers'. It's been attacked, and we are currently getting the hell out of here." Said Ginny.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Said Ron, and they were off.

OoOoO

When the Weasleys-plus-two arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, everything appeared as it did normally, not a glass seemed out of place.

"Okay, they haven't gotten here yet. It may have been an isolated attack." Said Ginny, looking around.

"Well, this is a public space," said Alex, startling everybody. "You said they haven't got much manpower, right?" He asked Mr. Weasley. At his nod, Alex continued, "we're probably safe here, but maybe not for long. We should get moving."

"Okay," Said Ginny, "out into the alley, then."

Once they got there, Ginny side-alonged Alex again, and the rest went off in ones.

Just before they left, Ginny threw a look at Ron, and tried to say in the space of two seconds that she was sorry for running off in the middle of everything, but she suspected that all that registered was abject fear.

So, she looked away from him, took Alex's hand, and disapparated.

OoOoO

As soon as she landed on the grass outside the gates, Ginny heard shouting, and suddenly there was spellfire coming at them from all directions.

Yanking Alex down to the ground, Ginny began to throw spells at anyone wearing a mask. There were five or six of them, as far a Ginny could tell, and strangely enough, they weren't firing to kill.

Ginny narrowed her eyes, and went in for it on the nearest one, hitting him square in the chest with a stunner before he even saw her.

"Dad!" she yelled, whirling around.

"We're okay!" He yelled, in between hexes.

"What's going on!" She shouted as she flung stunners at one of the men in black.

Ginny got no response, so she focused in and got a shot in to the man's neck, and didn't stay long enough to watch him fall. She knew he wouldn't be getting up for some time.

Ginny nearly got caught by a particularly vicious looking jelly-legs hex in the back, but it went wide, and that gave Luna just enough time to put the death eater down with a strange-looking purple hex.

"Alright?" She asked. That death eater had been the last one, and they littered the ground.

"Alright." Said Ginny, picking herself up off the ground.

Alex emerged from behind a tree then, and Ginny saw that Harry and Hermione had been fighting with them.

"What happened?"

"They were waiting for us. An ambush." Said Hermione, who was seething, and wiping somebody's blood off a little knife with her pink t-shirt. Alex was looking at her like she was a rabid animal- with fear, and fascination.

"We saw them when we got here, and were hiding in the trees when you lot showed up. We got rid of the first three before they'd even noticed we were here."

"That's what happens when a bunch of masked idiots go up against people who actually know how to _fight_." Said Hermione with about as much disdain and contempt as she could possibly fit into her voice. Shoving the knife back into her pocket, she sneered at one of the felled men and shoved at him with the toe of her trainers.

Disgusting." She said.

"Is there anyone in the castle, Harry?" Asked Mr. Weasley.

"Not so far as we can tell, but I don't doubt that if there is, they've seen us by now." Harry walked up to the gate with a slight limp, and pulled at the lock.

"Hermione?" He prompted.

"Yeah, I've got it."

Hermione strode over to the lock, and without saying anything at all, she set her hand over the mechanism. It glowed blue, and then everyone heard it unlock with a quiet 'snick'. Her face still twisted into a sort of grimace, Hermione pulled the lock out of place, shoved the gate open the muggle way, and took off across the grounds.

Everyone rushed to follow her, and the lot of them headed off to the castle.

OoOoO

The Doors to the castle were open to them when they got there, and that came only as a small surprise. Ginny supposed that the castle would have recognized their magical signature once they had gotten onto the grounds.

Hogwarts was empty through the first floor, save one first-year and a small, black kitten. The castle was alight with wall sconces and and just as warm-cosy as Ginny knew it to be. For some reason, she had expected it to be cold, unlit, and thoroughly abandoned. She supposed that she had been expecting the worst, but Hogwarts was open in the summertime, after all.

There was a rustling and quick footsteps from behind them, and suddenly everybody's wands were out, and Ginny had gone into a crouch.

"What are you lot doing here?" Said Minerva McGonagall, to whom the footsteps had belonged. She appeared to have completely ignored the ten wands trained on her, and was keeping her cool alarmingly well.

Upon seeing her, everyone relaxed, lowering their wands, and Mrs. Weasley said "Minerva, have you heard from Dumbledore?"

"Yes, I have. About twenty minutes ago, he asked me to secure the castle wards, and when I asked why, he simply said that there had been an attack."

At that, it appeared that Hermione had had too much, and proceeded to burst into tears.

Harry was the first to her, and he held her around the middle while she slumped into his side.

"It was Hermione's house," Ginny said quietly, and somewhat redundantly, to McGonagall. "We checked everybody else's and there have been no others, but there was an ambush waiting for us just outside the gates. I've tied them up in rope, and they're most likely still stunned."

Nodding her understanding, McGonagall said, "It would appear that I've got to make a call to Amelia Bones at the MOM."

"It would appear to be so." Said Mr. Weasley.


	5. At Ares' Door

Ginny was pacing in the warm glow of the Gryffindor common room fire while Alex watched her from the sofa. It was a lumpy, overstuffed, and old thing, but somehow those things only made it cozier.

Alex let out a breath in a huff, and sank back down into the couch, preparing to wait a long while before Ginny deigned to tell him a few truths, but as it happened, he had only to wait a moment more.

"I didn't mean for you to find out this way, you know." She said.

"You said that already."

"I meant it."

Ginny turned then and leveled him with a stare.

The others had gone up to the dorms. Everyone was sleeping, and Ginny and Alex were left alone in a room that she knew well, and to which he was nothing more than a stranger. It was odd, to be sure, seeing Alex sitting so comfortably in a place filled with magic, when before she had only known him in muggle spaces. It was so odd in fact, that a strange little thought had begun to wiggle it's way into existence inside Ginny's head.

"Hang on a second." She said. "You walked straight into the castle. How did you walk straight into the castle?"

"What are you on about?" Asked Alex, looking at Ginny as though she might well have lost her mind.

"Muggles can't see Hogwarts." She said, running her hands through her hair. "Muggles can't see Hogwarts, because that would be very, absolutely terrible, and would cause a whole lot of problems for everyone just like they did in the early fifteenth century before the charms went up."

At Alex's look, she said "Hey, sometimes I actually do listen in History of Magic. Or rather, I listen to Hermione when she talks about it."

"So why can I see everything, then?

Ginny stared at him for a long moment. "I don't know."

"You don't know."

"No idea."

"So, is the castle alive? Could it have 'let' me in?"

"Yeah, sort of. Maybe. She's meant to be sentient, or that's what Hermione says."

"So maybe she did let me in? I don't know much about your world, Gin, but this whole magic thing kind of makes sense to me. I can't really put any words to it, but I think it does."

It was the first time he'd said it. Magic, the word aloud. Ginny paused for a moment, and thought on another little idea. She was just bursting with them tonight, she thought to herself, not unkindly.

"Do you have any strange aunts?" She asked, with her hand halfway to her mouth, as though she were acknowledging the oddity of the very idea.

"What are you playing at?"

"Hey babes, just answer the question. Got any crazy old bats on the family tree? Disappearing uncles?"

"Alright, alright, I've got one." He said, surrendering. "An aunt on my mum's side, she's strange but not that strange. She comes and goes, but when she's there, she's always talking about things I don't understand. Just nonsense, really."

"Nonsense like today? Like things with names you don't recognize? Nonsense like magic?" Ginny gave Alex a pointed look, and sat down on the ottoman in front of him.

"It's fairly common to have a witch or wizard in the family no one knows about. How funny, that you've had two." Ginny gave sort of a sad smile then. "Your crazy aunt, and me."

"You think aunt Mabel is the reason your castle let me in? I suppose that makes a weird kind of sense." Alex laughed. "I'll have to send her a thank-you card."

"Your aunt must be muggle-born. Like Hermione, actually. She's the only one in her family. It happens all the time, and the other way 'round. We call them squibs, though. A non-magical person born to wizards. They can see the castle, too."

"So you're saying I'm a squib."

"Only sort of, if that helps. A squib is a direct relation, you've just got magic in your family tree. Means you never got introduced, but it explains why we were drawn together, I think. Magic finds magic. Always."

"Always?"

"Yeah."

Alex reached forward then, and pulled Ginny onto the sofa with him. She went easily, like water sliding over stones. Familiarity, in the face of violence. Alex, the common room. She felt strange.

"I don't suppose you were ever going to tell me?" Asked Alex. It wasn't really a question, though.

Ginny paused a moment, and said "No. I don't think I was. I had this half-formed plan inside my head, like I was going to slip away in the middle of the night and you would never see me again. It sounds ridiculous now, but we're at war. I figured one day I'd get the call, you know? I kept waiting for it, and I guess it did come, just differently than I expected. I didn't think I'd have to take anyone else down with me, though. You didn't sign up for this."

"I signed up for you, though."

"Don't say that. You still don't know what you're putting your name down for."

"Hey, at least Jet and Alice can have sex in the lounge now without worrying we're going to walk in on them."

"You say that like they were ever worried in the first place."

"Yeah, I guess they were pretty carefree, huh babes?"

"A luxury they'll get to keep." Ginny moved off Alex's lap then, and turned on the sofa so she could face him. "Alice will always wonder, but she'll move on. She and Jet, both. I know it was strange for her, but she'll understand. And someday when the war is over, I'll send her a letter."

"Let her know you're alright?"

"Sure. Or if I'm not alright, Ron will send it for me. Maybe he'll call her on the telephone," she said with a laugh, "he still thinks it's the oddest thing. Loves to mash the buttons and see who answers."

"No telephones 'round here?" Asked Alex, avoiding the obvious.

"Yeah, magic doesn't mix so well with electric things. Messes with the currents, or so I'm told."

"Hermione tell you that?"

"Harry, actually. He gets that kind of stuff better than the rest of us. Hermione could tell you every hidden secret contained within the annals of history, but Harry does logic even better than she does. Don't get me wrong, Hermione could logic the shit out of you, but some stuff just makes sense to Harry. Like he sees stuff the rest of us can't."

"Sounds like a pretty clever guy. No wonder you all like him so much. He seems like kind of an odd duck, though. "

"It's part of his charm." Said Ginny, with a dismissive wave of her hand.

But, if you think he's an odd duck, just wait until you properly meet Luna." She said with a snort.

"The blonde with the excellent right cross?"

"Oh?"

"I kind of saw everything from my super-manly hiding spot behind a rock today. She fights dirty. No rules."

"Yeah, well, Luna doesn't play by any sort of recognized rulebook, but then, neither do the death eaters."

"Your friends kind of scare me, babes."

"Yeah, don't cross them, mate." She said with a grin and a poke to Alex's side.

"Figures."

"What?"

"That you'd have some well-hidden secret life waiting in the rafters, and around every corner. Seems just like you."

"I suppose it does look that way to you."

Ginny stared into the fire and let Alex run his hands through her hair while she thought on what was to come. She felt woefully unprepared, just the way the world does before a war. And this one was her birthright, thrust upon her before she could get away. It wasn't fair, but these things never were, and she didn't expect them to be so. What she did expect, however, was that things were going to get very dark, and very soon.

OoOoO

Blue sunlight filtered through the curtains and through Ginny's hair as she sat still on the covers of her four-poster. She, Alex, Hermione and Harry had taken what was usually Ginny's dorm, and she was busy listening to Alex breathe beside her. Ginny looked down at him while he slept, and studied the curves and points of his face until she could look at him no longer. Sliding off the bed, Ginny padded over to the little bathroom to wash last night off her face.

Ginny went for her toothbrush, but didn't quite make it that far. Staring at herself, she saw that even one day back in her world of magic was taking its toll. The stirrings of war were yet at their feet. Bruises from the fight marked her arms and torso, and she still had a gash across her arm. Madame Pomfrey had cleaned it, but for some odd reason, and in a fit of muggle-ness, Ginny hadn't let her heal it. She still couldn't say exactly why.

Noises from the bedroom startled her out of her reverie, and Ginny finally went for her toothbrush.

There was a little knock on the door, and then Hermione let herself in. She said hello to Ginny, and the sank to the ground with her back against the door.

"Dumbledore's going to want to call a meeting." She said.

"Yeah, I reckon so." Said Ginny, around her toothbrush.

"I'm afraid it's going to be a council of war."

Ginny finished brushing, and took a seat across from Hermione.

"I think it would be dishonest to call it anything else."

Hermione looked up for a moment, as though she were trying to clear tears from her eyes.

"Gin, I don't know that I'm strong enough for this. I mean, I know that we need to be there for Harry, and I know that he hasn't got a choice, but what if we can't help?"

"If there's one thing I know, 'Mione, it's that there are some things we can never be prepared for, but we have to do them anyway. We just have to move forward." Ginny took a breath, and looked Hermione in the eye.

This is that thing, babes. This is that one thing we just have to do anyway."

Hermione reached out, and Ginny took her hand. Though she still looked to be crying, Hermione looked back at Ginny that time, and said with a clear voice, "I promise to be with you until the end, and one day after. No matter what happens."

"To the end, and a day after. I promise."

OoOoO


	6. Between the Hours

Harry was sitting alone in the improvised dorm room on top of red and gold covers when there was a soft knock on the door. Thrice knocked, thrice more, and Harry opened the door.

"Luna." He said, staring down at the smallish blonde. "I thought you'd all gone down to the great hall."

"Oh, we had," She said, sweeping past him into the room, "I only realized I wasn't hungry after I'd sat down. Quite a thing, isn't it? How it turns your stomach."

Luna was looking at him with her large, orb-like eyes, and Harry didn't feel the need to ask for clarification. He knew exactly what she meant. He had, after all, stayed away from the great hall altogether.

"Won't you sit with me, Harry?"

"Sure, Luna."

Both together on the edge of Harry's bed then, a question came to Harry's mind.

"Is your dad okay, Luna? Did he get out?"

"Oh, that's so sweet of you to ask, Harry, but you needn't worry. We have our ways, he has his." She said, looking down at her hands. They were twisting just slightly in the fabric of her dress.

He'll be just fine."

"Okay."

Silence fell for a minute, and then another, and Harry began to feel that there was something Luna couldn't say. Perhaps it was not the time. Perhaps it was not the place.

Before he could decide, Luna stood abruptly, and steadied herself with a hand on a bedpost.

"Well, I really must be going, Harry, but it was ever so lovely to chat with you."

"Wait, Luna," said Harry, standing up.

"I really have to go, Harry. Infestation of wrackspurts in the library. Can't have them lying in wait for Hermione to stumble into, now can we? Need her at her best, don't we?"

"Yes, of course, Luna. I'll see you at the meeting later on, yeah?" Said Harry, with less confidence in his voice than there ought to have been.

"Oh yes." She said, and promptly left.

She had waited just a moment too long before answering.

OoOoO

"I just had the strangest conversation with Luna." Said Harry.

He and Ginny were seated on the stone steps leading up to the front doors of the Castle. The two of them were mostly quiet in the dark, eating an orange and looking up at the stars. It was late, the sun had gone down a few hours before.

Ginny had always loved to watch the stars as a child, and Harry loved to do anything Ginny wanted to do, so things tended to work out. Ginny supposed that might have been why they were such easy friends. It was nothing like her relationship with Ron, that was to be sure. Turbulent, yes, but easy their relationship was not. It didn't bother Ginny, though. She knew that was the way with siblings, just some more than others.

"You don't say?" Said Ginny, with a wry smile at Harry.

"I mean stranger than usual. We talked about her dad. She seemed- ah- preoccupied."

"Yeah, well we're all handling it differently. Mum would say it's to be expected."

"Yeah? What does Alex say about it?" Out of Ron's mouth, it would have sounded confrontational. Out of Harry's, it was gentle, calm even.

Ginny paused a moment, peeling white strings off her orange slice with idle fingers.

"I'm not sure, actually. I think he's handling it better than any of the rest of us. He's not had time to cross the line over from well-adjusted individual to— well, whatever's on our side of the line."

"Hey, babes, I'm totally well-adjusted!" Harry mocked her, tossing little white orange-strings at her head.

"Rude." Said Ginny, attempting to remove them from her hair.

Ginny gave up, sighed, and bent her head to rest it on Harry's shoulder after that, suddenly drained of any kind of energy. Harry paused, and then brought his arm around her waist to pull her in closer so she could put her full weight into him.

Their silence fell over them again then, and the two of them stayed on the flagstone until the sun began to make an appearance, just watching the stars.

OoOoO

"She's not really a girl anymore, you know." Said Molly, staring down at Arthur's back.

"I know. I just wish she hadn't felt like she'd needed to leave." He said, sinking further down the side of the bed.

"I suppose we should get used to losing control." Said Molly.

"Yes," Said Arthur. "I suppose we should."

OoOoO

"Hey 'Mione."

"Oh, hello Ron." She said, looking up from her book.

"What'cha doin'?"

"What's it look like?"

"Come on, 'Mione, don't do that. I didn't come over here to start a fight." Said Ron, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"I know, Ron, I'm sorry." She said, closing her book- _Charms and Logograms_ \- and running her hand through her hair. "I don't mean to be difficult."

"Hey, hey, you've got just as much right as anybody to be difficult right now. I don't blame you for it." Said Ron, lowering himself down to sit next to Hermione at the table.

He'd found her in the Library, just as he'd suspected. Ron was generally more astute than people gave him credit for, and a measure more devious, too. He could have been accused of having used it to his advantage once or twice. Hermione had been sitting at a table halfway through the library (it was a very big library, she took a while to find) reading the first book she'd pulled off the shelf in a desperate attempt to keep her mind off the unknown whereabouts of her parents. She kept imagining them killed, and halfway didn't want to ask Dumbledore if the order had found any bodies. She comforted herself with the notion that he would have told her already if he had.

The pair of them said nothing for a moment, and then-

"D'you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay."

"I mean. I can't, Ron. I wasn't ready. I thought we still had time."

"Yeah, that kind of thing's hard to trick yourself into thinking when you've got someone like Luna hanging around." Said Ron, with only a small laugh.

"Of course." Said Hermione. "The woman can see everything."

Years ago, Hermione wouldn't have even entertained the idea of lending credence to Luna's musings and declarations, but she'd since learned that Luna could see things other people couldn't. She'd deny it till the day she died, but some days, when it was late and she was tired and frustrated with herself for being so shortsighted, she felt some modicum of jealousy on the subject.

"How are you two?" She asked abruptly.

"Ah-" Said Ron, startled. "We're good. Yeah, strange, but good. She makes me better, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"It's funny, 'Mione. Because before I started seeing Luna, you know, like actually _seeing_ her, I didn't realize how clear things can become when you start seeing things through someone else's eyes. I think about what she'd say before she even says it. Kind of like I've got some kind of Luna-lens I'm seeing everything through now. It's the strangest thing."

"There are worse things, Ronald."

"I don't mean that. I meant to say, in all that, that it can be helpful, you know, to have someone who understands you."

"I don't need rose-colored glasses to see the world with, Ron. I need something to do."

"I never took you for a pessimist, 'Mione."

"Well, I never was before. Things are different now." She said, straightening up.

Before she could leave, Ron grabbed her hand. She turned to look at him with accusatory eyes, like he'd offended her.

"Let go, Ron." He released her like she was on fire.

"Please, 'Mione, let me."

"Let you what?" She snarled.

"Let me be that person." Said Ron, unafraid. He'd heard her snarl at him before, he wasn't scared of her anymore. "If not me, Neville's the best listener I know. I just want you to have someplace to go."

"I don't need someplace to go, Ronald!" She raised her voice at him. During the school year, Madam Pince would have rounded the corner with a glare and a 'shush!' Now, there was nothing but empty air. "I already told you, I don't need to talk to anybody, I just need something to do! I'm so tired of sitting around, waiting for the next horrible thing to happen. Why do you think Harry and I disappeared all summer? Sitting in my room waiting for 'The Call' was properly killing me. Now, I'm just stuck back in this stupid castle, reading stupid, stupid books and waiting for some asshole Death Eater to kill my parents!" Hermione was halfway in tears at that point, and looked like she might fall over at any moment. She had always been brittle when it came to her own emotions, she supposed, before she reigned herself in, gathered up her book, turned on her heel, and left.

Sat alone in the library, then, Ron looked up at the stacks floating above his head, and watched them teeter back and forth until he could keep his eyes open no longer, and went to bed.

OoOoO

The evening of the next day, Dumbledore sent out scrolls with the house-elves. There was to be a meeting of the Order of The Phoenix in the Headmaster's office at six 'o clock.


	7. All the Tall-Short People

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Asked Ron.

"Oh, I think you know that already, Ronald." Countered Luna.

It was always a little like a boxing match with them, but only to begin with. Luna never gave him an answer straight out unless she knew he needed it.

"It'll start, won't it? Reconnaissance. Locked doors, heavy wards. Muggle-borns will have to go into hiding."

"Yes." She said, with a sad look on her face.

"D'you think they'll actually ask anything of us? You know how they are, the adults. We're seventeen, the lot of us, but mum's always got her knickers in a twist over how young we are anyway, not to mention Dumbledore."

"I'm sixteen."

"Yeah, but they'll treat us the same, so it doesn't matter, does it?" Asked Ron, pulling Luna in by her hand, and then her waist. She left her hairbrush on the desk and let herself be pulled. Ron put his arms around her middle and rested his head on her stomach, just beneath her breasts.

"There will always be something which is required of us by the Order, even if they do not say. They are not allowed to say, see?" She said, stroking Ron's hair. "It's not allowed, but you can see it in their eyes. They ask for help, for things only children can do."

"They need us." Said Ron, half a question.

"Yes, they do." Said Luna.

"Are there wrackspurts in my hair, Lu?"

"No."

There were stars out that night. Luna looked at them through the window of their room in Gryffindor tower, wondering what they might have looked like to Van Gogh, had he seen them that night.

"Oh, alright. Good."

She kept on, though, just petting his hair.

OoOoO

"I'll spare you the details." Said Dumbledore, wholly unlike himself, and without any sort of twinkle in his eye.

"Miss Granger's house was not the only one attacked. Mr. Finch-Fletchley's home was as well, his parents victim to an attack by the Death Eaters." He said, gesturing to the boy sat in the corner, with red eyes, shaking hands, and an angry set to his mouth.

Everyone was gathered in Dumbledore's office, ready to hear their orders, ready to begin. Snape was, as always, shrouded in darkness at the back of the room, while Arthur and Molly stood behind a chintz armchair of Dumbledore's conjuring, in which was seated Ginny, with Alex stood at her side. Ron and Luna were stood on the one side of the room with Bill, Fleur and Charlie, while Hermione stood with Neville, strangely close to Snape. Mcgonagall was stood on the other side of the room, not far from Dumbledore, and bracing herself, it appeared, on one of the little tables which held all Dumbledore's strange, spindly, silver instruments. Fred and George had arrived the night before, and stood by themselves against the closet which contained the pensieve. Remus Lupin, who looked positively haggard, was stood beside Mcgonagall, with Harry at his side.

"So what are we going to do?" Asked Ron.

"Severus." Said Dumbledore, indicating Snape.

"We have set up several safehouses along Godric's hollow, Ottery St. Catchpole, and with those Order members who still survive." Said Snape. "We've already begun moving those of us who are muggle-born out of their homes and into the houses. I believe Molly has agreed to oversee the operation." He said, with a nod in her direction.

"Yes," She said. "Bill has done up the wards, we should be set to go. The rest of us are moving them as we speak."

* _Ah*_ , thought Ginny. _*That's where everyone is.*_ She was not the only person to notice that only the Hogwarts contingent appeared to be in attendance.

"Now." Said Dumbledore. "The matter of Miss Granger's parents."

Hermione's head snapped up, and she looked at him with a glint in her eye. A warning.

"We have received intelligence that suggests that they are still alive," Hermione let out an audible sigh- "and are being held captive in a house on the coast of Wales."

"Wales?" Asked Harry.

"We cannot jump to any sort of conclusions based on what little evidence we have, but we suspect that it is because Lucius Malfoy owns a second home there." Said McGonagall, tensing and releasing a muscle in her jaw.

Hermione, for her part, said nothing, but it was quite clear from her silence that the had just become just a tiny bit homicidal.

"Mr. Weasley," Said Dumbledore, turning to Bill, "We will certainly need a curse-breaker if we are to retrieve them."

"Of course, and I'd like to bring Fleur as well. She's vicious with a hex." He said, smirking a little at the corner of his mouth.

"I find that I must agree, as I recall, Mr. Davies was in the hospital wing for a week just following the Yule ball. Madame Pomfrey couldn't seem to set him quite right." The twinkle was back, if only for a moment.

In another lifetime, Ron would have insisted on going with the rescue, but today it was Ginny who volunteered.

"I want to go." She said calmly, but with a certain fire in her eyes. Alex squeezed her hand.

"No." Said Arthur from behind her. "No, absolutely not."

Ginny leapt up from her chair so quickly that Alex startled.

"And why is that?" She demanded of her father. "It it because I'm just a child?" She asked, with a mocking, sarcastic air. "Honestly, it's like you actually believe that's a valid reason to keep me locked up inside." She whirled around and faced Dumbledore with her glare. "Do you honestly believe that a Death Eater would spare me just because I'm underage? Do you really think they conduct themselves according to any sort of moral code? They've taken Hermione's parents, for Merlin's sake! You've got to let go of your shit, we're playing by different rules now."

Ginny flung her hands in the air, and made to leave when Hermione said "Wait!" Ginny turned around to see Hermione standing, with the same kind of stubbornness Ginny'd thought she'd lost over the past couple of days.

Ginny paused with her hand on the door, and Hermione turned to Dumbledore.

"It should be me. I should go." She said, with wide eyes.

Dumbledore said nothing for a moment, only unclasped his hands to lean forward on the desk in front of him.

"Miss Granger, it would be very dangerous. Despite what Miss Weasley says, you are still children. I cannot, in good conscience, send children to fight this war for us."

"But you already have." Said a voice from the corner. Luna.

"Luna?" Said Neville.

She didn't take her bright eyes off Dumbledore for a moment. "But you know that, don't you?"

For a few moments, nobody said anything at all.

"Hermione," said Luna, getting up to take her hand, "I think you should stay, and Gin. We can do more here, can't we? For now, we can do more."

Hermione looked at Dumbledore then, and said "They come back in once piece, and I do the obliviating." With a hard set to her eyes.

Dumbledore only nodded his head.

"Okay. Okay." She said, and sat back down. Ginny followed her.

"There is still the matter of -Fletchley's parents, Bill. I assume you and Fleur are up to the task?"

"Of course, sir, but where are they being kept? Not with the Grangers?"

"That's the thing." Said Arthur. "We've absolutely no idea."

"They're playing a game." Said George. "They're taunting us."

"They'll never get away with it." Said Fred.

"Ah, Messers. Weasley, I had hoped you might say that."

At Fred's quirked eyebrow, Dumbledore said, "We've a job for you."

"And what might that be, exactly?" Asked Ginny, like a challenge. She was still sore, it seemed.

"I remember quite well your penchant for trouble-making, Messers. Weasley." Said McGonagall. "I also remember your particular knack for getting spells to change themselves to suit your needs. At the time, I had thought it was callous, but now, we're going to need someone, or rather, someones who can find a needle on the entire British countryside."

"Wicked." Said the twins in unison, and immediately put their heads together and began to whisper urgently.

"Albus." Said Remus, from his spot near the desk. "What will we do when the children arrive?"

It was, after all, less than two weeks to the start of term. Ginny remembered idly that thad been her birthday only a week before. A lifetime ago, a cupcake with Alex on the floor of the bus.

"We will continue as we have. We have no cause to alarm them, and what they need now is safety, a sense of normalcy. It is our responsibility to give them what little time we have left."

At that, however surprisingly, no one raised a single protest.

OoOoO

After the others had filed out, Harry stayed behind. He and Dumbledore sat facing each other in near-darkness. It was nearing eight 'o clock.

"Harry, you know of the horcruxes, of what must be done." It wasn't a question. Harry shifted in his seat.

"Yes, sir."

"Not yet, but soon there will be many things required of you. Hard things, Harry, very difficult things."

"I know that, sir."

"Yes," Said Dumbledore. "I suppose that you do."

OoOoO


	8. From Time's Chest Lie Hid

"Ginny, I think that you may be in need of a cup of tea. Or possibly a Xanax?" Said Alex, who was watching Ginny wear a hole in the rug.

"I do not need a cup of tea, or muggle drugs, I need answers!" Said Ginny, positively irate.

"Well, I don't know about answers," said Luna, "but I think we could do something about a plan."

Ginny stopped in the middle of the rug and turned to Luna, eyes wide. "What are you on about?"

Luna, ever a calm sea, kept her seat in Ron's lap and looked up at Ginny with a twinkle in her eye. "I've got a friend."

"What kind of friend, Luna?"

"I think it might be better to let him do the talking- he does so love it, after all."

"That he does" Said Ron.

"You know this friend?" Asked Ginny, eyeing Ron suspiciously.

"Yeah, I've met him a few times. Always comes 'round for tea, talking about Luna's mum. He's a nice chap, if a bit mad. Fits right in, actually." Said Ron, with a smile on his face. Ginny hadn't seen him smile at her for a while, and it hit her just below her heart.

"What does he do?" Asked Hermione, from her place near Ginny's feet.

"That, I'm afraid, I could not possibly explain. He will have to show you, of course."

"Can you call him here?"

"Perhaps. We shall see what River says."

"And who's River?"

And still with that maddening twinkle in her eye, Luna said "His wife."

OoOoO

"Oh, Luna. What have you gotten yourself into this time?" Said River as she stepped into the room on velvet high-heels.

They were all seated in the Gryffindor common room, staring at the tall, bouncy-haired woman who had just materialized in the middle of the room. It was something different enough from apparition that it left the non-magic and magic folk equally intrigued.

"What's that on your wrist?" Asked Hermione, before Luna could get a word in edgewise.

With a smirk, River turned to Luna and said "I am glad that I have never doubted you, Luna. Your friends look to be everything you said they were."

Then, River looked back to Hermione, and said "It's a vortex manipulator. It's a clunky, old thing, but it does the job. Now!" she said, clapping her hands together, "Luna and company, would you fill me in?"

OoOoO

River was no stranger to war, nor was she unsympathetic to Luna's plight. War had made her husband stony as it had aged him, but River was different. She never let it destroy her.

Her mother had taught her never to close her mind.

"So, let me get this straight. You" she said, pointing to Harry, "are the 'chosen one' and you've got to defeat this big bad who's coming to bring the house down? And he's basically Hitler all over again?"

At Harry and Luna's nod, River put her face in her hands and groaned. "I hated Hitler the first time! I had thought we'd had done with that!"

"You fought against Hitler?" Asked Alex.

"Why yes I did, and as it happens, my father got in a good punch on his nose before we had to flee the scene!"

"Well, then you're looking excellent for your age, babes." He said with a smirk to rival River's.

"Ooh, I do so like him." Said River to Luna.

"Down, boy." Said Ginny, who tugged on Alex's jeans to bring him closer to her.

 _*I never can keep him civilized*_

"River." Said Luna.

"You're wondering when I'm going to call my husband."

"Originally, I had thought of him, yes. However," she said, gazing out the window at the hazy, summer evening, "I am now quite convinced that this calls for a more delicate touch. Perhaps you could call your mother."

River hand't seen her mother since the angels had taken her. She existed now only as a memory, and River kept her alive by visiting those who had once been her friends. Captain Jack always had another funny story she hadn't yet heard.

"Luna, I'm terribly sorry, but my mother died. She's been gone since the eighties."

Hermione tensed at that, and sent a look River's way. Perhaps she was looking for some kind of answer.

"But River, didn't you just say that you'd just seen her last year?"

"I know that you wizards are not excessively familiar with time travel as a concept, but I did not see her, she saw me."

"I don't understand." Said Ginny, a frown on her face.

With a deep breath, River said "My mother existed at any and all points in time, as frequently or as infrequently as she liked. She traveled lightyears away and as far in any direction in time as anyone had gone since before the war on Gallifrey. Now, though she has died, I still see her from time to time. When I am lucky, our timelines intersect, and we stay for as long as we are able."

"Then shouldn't we be able to fetch her, River?" Asked Ron.

"Before, yes. But not anymore. The Angels have her now."

"Oh." Said Luna. "I see. they took her from you."

At the confused looks on the other's faces, River clarified, "There is a monster that preys on our kind. Those of us who travel over and through the void- time travelers. They are called the weeping angels. Time is what they lost when their planet died, and now they take it from those of us who still have it. It is a cruel monster, and an unbeatable one. We can only avoid them."

River looked tired then, and she slumped down in her armchair.

"They took my father first, and then my mother. We were in New York, and we had thought that we had escaped them. We thought, mistakenly, that they could be beaten. We learned that we had been wrong, and my father paid the price. He was gone for only a moment before my mother flung herself after him. She let the angels take her so she could be with him. It was her best chance, and she took it. They ended up somewhere around nineteen-fifty eight."

River looked away from the wall she had been staring at, and wiped her eyes. The room was quiet, but River had expected that. She wished with everything that she had that she could still visit her mother at will.

"River." Said Luna, with an outstretched hand "Is he okay?"

With a half-hearted, mirthless laugh, River said "I'm never sure anymore. You should see what kind of horrors he's wrought since she's been gone. Hers was the first face his face saw." Said River, looking at the ground. "He's not been right since she left."

"Your name is River Song." Said Hermione, though she'd learned it an hour before. Looking straight at her, she said again "Your name is River Song."

"Yes, that's right." Said River. The look of manic genius in Hermione's eye was not lost on River, who immediately followed it with "You know something, don't you?"

"Yes, I think so, but I can't be sure."

"What do you mean, 'Mione?" Asked Harry, who had been silent the whole time.

"Well," she said, standing up, "There's this theory."

Casting her eyes about madly, she continued, "There's this theory I came across back in third year when McGonagall lent me the time-turner so I could get to all my classes. In a book called _A River in Time._ It said something about fixed points in time, and about how they existed in different planes of reality, all at the same time. And that's what you said it was, right?" she looked at River. "You said it was a fixed point in time. Something that could not be changed."

"Yes," said River, "That's right."

"But it's not! It's true, but it's theoretically possible to still go to those points in time, isn't it?"

"Well, ordinarily, yes, but there was too much disturbance in the fabric of time in New York in nineteen-thirty eight, if we had tried to go back, the universe would've ripped itself apart."

"But we don't have to go back to nineteen-thirty eight with your vortex manipulator, do we? Because we're _goddamn wizards_ , don't you see? We don't have to go back to nineteen-thirty eight the same way you went back there when the angels took your mother. We can go back our way, under the current, so to speak. Theoretically, we could sneak in a back door, or really, we could just walk straight into America in the thirties or the forties or anytime we want because we haven't got to use time-lord technology or whatever else. We have magic!"

Hermione was pinking up around her chest and flailing her arm about in that was she always did when she had a particularly good idea, and as soon as she had finished her declaration, she began to mumble to herself about finding a quill.

"'Mione" said Harry. She looked up. "Time turners don't work like that. You only get a few hours at a time."

"Don't you think I know that?" She said. "I don't plan on doing this myself." She said, and looked straight at River.

"You know how to make it work, don't you?"

"I don't know, but I can certainly try."

"Excellent. Luna, babes," Said Hermione, whirling around. "Would you send a patronus to your doctor friend? We're going to need a thing or two."

OoOoO


End file.
